Aisha Mohammed, wife of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, on Saturday, confessed that she had no formal education when she got married.
Mrs Mohammed made the statement at an event tagged Naija Youth Talk organised by the Bauchi field office of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
I was 16 years old and a stark illiterate when I married my husband…I only started school after my third child,” she said.
She decried the high rate of illiteracy and early marriage among young girls in the state, blaming the situation on parents who believed formal education for the girl-child was a mere waste of resources.
“We were 100 girls in my family, but none of us had formal education. I had never been to primary school in my parent’s house.
“This is because our parents never believed in educating the girl-child. I struggled to go to school, but they refused.
“I picked the challenge to be educated from my brothers and after I had my third child, I insisted my husband gets me a home teacher.
“That’s how I started and I later went to secondary school. Today I am a graduate of public administration from the University of Abuja,” she narrated.
Mohammed, who emphasised the importance of educating every young person in the society irrespective of gender, added that such move would curb crime and social vices in the society.
